The Graduate School recognized 10 graduate students with Graduate Teaching Awards for their exceptional work as instructors at the 2026 Tribute to Teaching Reception on April 21.
Students were honored at the Palmer House at an event hosted by Rodney Priestley, dean of the Princeton Graduate School. Priestley noted that the Graduate School is celebrating its 125th anniversary this academic year, and that much of its “transformational impact” takes place through teaching. “The impact of teaching, at its best, is felt by both those who are learning and those who teach,” Priestley told the crowd of students, advisers, faculty and campus partners. “It is that shared transformation that our annual teaching awards are meant to recognize.”
The Teaching Awards recipients were: Bianca Centrone, history and a Princeton Writing Program Quin Morton’36 Teaching Fellow; Isha Gore, Princeton Neuroscience Institute; Alice McCrum, history; Emily Merola, economics; Lauren Miano, philosophy; Elizabeth Mieczkowski, computer science; Patrick Park, mechanical and aerospace engineering; Tachin Ruangkriengsin, applied and computational mathematics; Claire Whiting, psychology; Melissa Yorio, religion.
Winners were selected by a committee chaired by Lisa Schreyer, deputy dean of the Graduate School, and composed of the academic affairs deans of the Graduate School and staff from the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning. The nominations were made by academic departments and programs. Each winner receives $1,000.
“Our teaching assistants and preceptors help Princeton undergraduates reach their full potential as scholars while also deepening their own knowledge,” Schreyer said. “The 10 students receiving Teaching Awards this year bring exceptional scholarship, innovation and compassion to this vital role.”
Bianca Centrone
Bianca Centrone joined the Princeton Writing Program in 2025 as one of five Quin Morton ’36 Teaching Fellows. She is expected to receive her Ph.D. in history in May of 2026. Centrone was honored for her work teaching the writing seminar “Fabrics of Our Lives,” in which students learned research and writing skills as they explored fashion, textiles and history from the industrialization of New York’s Garment District to the Brooks Brothers shirts of the 1950s.
Students said Centrone motivated them to do their best work. As one student put it, “I learned that the writing essay process is always radical and requires revision.”
“Bianca inspires with her enthusiasm for the difficult—and rewarding—work of writing as thinking, crafting, and reimagining,” said the three Princeton Writing Program leaders who recommended her (Amanda Irwin Wilkins, director; Christoper M. Kurpiewski, senior associate director; and Sarah Case, associate director).
Isha Gore
Isha Gore, a third-year graduate student at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, received the Graduate Teaching Award for her work helping to plan and teach a new course, “Neuropharmacology.”
Elizabeth Gould, director of undergraduate studies in Neuroscience, who taught the course, said that in her 30 years of teaching, Gore “stands out over the very best in her quality of teaching, dedication to her students, and the care with which she provides rigorous and compassionate knowledge transfer.”
Gore was the teaching assistant in what Gould described as a “course within a course.” Gould praised Gore’s ability to break down difficult concepts and her “compassionate and kind approach” to students. Students also were impressed by Gore’s teaching abilities, with one student stating that, “A single explanation from her was often enough for me to understand the sometimes dense material in the papers.”
Alice McCrum
Alice McCrum, who is expected to receive her Ph.D. in history in 2026, was recognized for her work as a teaching assistant with Edward Baring, professor of History and Human Values, in the course, “European Intellectual History in the Twentieth Century.”
Students in McCrum’s precept said she created a “safe space” in which everyone could contribute. They gave her a perfect score of 5.0 in evaluations with multiple students stating that she was the best preceptor they had ever had.
Baring said McCrum did not “shy away from hot-button contemporary references.” She often held back to let students lead discussions and responded “directly and fluidly” to students’ comments, according to Baring. McCrum “simply radiates an excitement for the ideas and projects a love of deep conversation about difficult issues that is very hard to resist,” Baring said.
Emily Merola
Emily Merola, a fourth-year student in the Industrial Relations Section of the Department of Economics, received the Teaching Award for her work as a preceptor working with first-year students in “Introduction to Economics” and as a teaching assistant in the Junior Independent Work seminar in which students learned how to do research projects for the first time.
Senior lecturer Kelly Noonan said Merola created a “welcoming and structured classroom environment” for first-year students. She pushed students intellectually and provided guidance as they prepared their projects, according to Noonan. “Emily is an exceptional teacher, a generous mentor, and a model representative of our department’s commitment to undergraduate education,” Noonan said.
Students also appreciated Merola’s teaching. They praised Merola’s “clarity, responsiveness, engagement and commitment,” Noonan noted. “She was incredibly helpful,” one student wrote, “and provided very thorough feedback on my draft.”
Lauren Miano
Lauren Miano, a fourth-year student in the Department of Philosophy’s Program in Classical Philosophy, received the Graduate Teaching Award for being an “absolutely first-rate teacher” of five different philosophy courses with two professors.
Miano, whose research is in ancient Greek philosophy, was the preceptor for two sections of “Aristotle and his Successors,” with Benjamin Morison, professor of philosophy and department chair. She was so successful that Morison asked her to be the teaching assistant for his course, “Plato in Paris.” Miano was “outstanding in this role,” and spent nearly every hour with students in Paris, Morison said.
Sarah McGrath, associate professor of philosophy, was similarly impressed with Miano’s teaching abilities as a preceptor in three courses: “Introduction to Ancient Philosophy,” “Philosophy, Religion, and Existential Commitments,” and “Introduction to Moral Philosophy.” McGrath said Miano was the best graduate teaching assistant she has seen in her 18 years at Princeton.
Elizabeth Mieczkowski
A fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Computer Science, Elizabeth Mieczkowski was recognized for “going above and beyond expectations in every way possible” as the head teaching assistant for “Computational Models of Cognition.”
Mieczkowski’s students gave her a 5.0 rating as precept for the course, which was taught by Tom Griffiths, Henry R. Luce Professor of Information Technology, Consciousness and Culture, and Brenden Lake, associate professor of computer science and psychology. Mieczkowski was not only a caring and dedicated teacher but also a responsible and dedicated head teaching assistant, Griffiths said.
Students said they appreciated the effort Mieczkowski put into her teaching and advising students on class research projects, one of which was submitted to a conference. Students wrote multiple letters recommending Mieczkowski for the award. One student said Mieczkowski’s Mieczkowski created a classroom environment that was “respectful, engaging, and supportive.”
Patrick Park
Patrick Park, a third year student in mechanical engineering, was recognized for his work as a teaching assistant for professor Alexander Glaser’s Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) course “Science and Global Security: From Nuclear Weapons to Cyberwarfare and Artificial General Intelligence.” Glaser is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and SPIA, and co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security.
Glaser said Park was a “spectacular” teaching assistant and the best he has ever had at Princeton. He excelled at “highlighting the role of science and technology in their societal context,” Glaser added.
Six students wrote letters of support for Park’s nomination. “Even at a place like Princeton where everyone is exceptional, Patrick stands out,” one student wrote, “and not just because he is brilliant, but because he is endlessly enthusiastic about learning, human-centric, empathetic, and kind while doing it.”
Tachin Ruangkriengsin
Tachin Ruangkriengsin, a fourth-year graduate student in applied and computational mathematics, was honored with the Graduate Teaching Award for his work as a teaching assistant in Mathematics in Engineering I, a course that covers topics in differential equations and is required in many engineering majors.
Howard Stone, the Neil A. Omenn ’68 University Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, saidRuangkriengsin helped him “in all aspects of the class.” He helped answer student questions, edited exams, and helped Stone plan teaching material. “Tachin is a very effective teacher who goes the extra mile to help students, including staying after lecture to discuss with the students, address questions, confusion, etc.,” Stone wrote.
One student described Park as “a wonderful teacher who is able to break down really tough concepts into manageable ideas.” Another wrote, “Give Tachin some sort of award!”
Claire Whiting
Claire Whiting is a fourth-year graduate student in psychology who was a teaching assistant with Nicole Avena, associate professor of neuroscience and visiting professor of health psychology, for “Health Psychology.” She also served twice as a teaching assistant for “Developmental Psychology» with Casey Lew-Williams, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology.
Whiting was “exceptionally prepared, deeply engaged, and consistently committed,” Avena said. Lew-Williams agreed, describing Whiting as “unique in her attentiveness, reliability, creativity, and thoughtfulness as a preceptor.”
Students were equally enthusiastic. “Claire was a phenomenal TA,” one student said. “Her class discussions were extremely engaging and interesting.”
A McGraw Teaching Fellow, Whiting led teaching orientation sessions for fellow teaching assistants and contributed to the McGraw Teaching Fellow Program. She is also a University Administrative Fellow who co-facilitated Wintersession workshops through her fellowship with the Center on Science and Technology.
Melissa Yorio
Yorio, a third-year graduate student in the Department of Religion, was the head preceptor for the course “Jesus: How Christianity Began” taught by AnneMarie Luijendijk, the William H. Danforth Professor of Religion and head of New College West. She was nominated by Luijendijk and by Liane Feldman, assistant professor, for whom Yorio was the preceptor for the course, “Who Wrote the Bible.”
Luijendijk noted that the course required a certain sensitivity. “Melissa shows an interest in her students and meets them where they are,” she said. Feldman said Yorio took a personal interest in students. “Without a doubt, Melissa is the strongest preceptor I have ever had,” she said.
Students also praised Yorio’s teaching abilities. “Melissa is amazing,” one student wrote. “She is knowledgeable of the subject and aware of the students’ needs.”
